Site Navigation

Site Mobile Navigation

Thorsten Bauer

Thorsten Bauer is the creative director of Urbanscreen, a collaboration of German artists and technicians who use architecture as their medium. Using projected sound, light and animation, they transform buildings like the Sydney Opera House, Leopold Museum in Vienna and Rice University’s academic quadrangle in Houston into spectacular temporary art installations.

READING I recently read a good nonfiction book from the American author Arnold Mindell, “Sitting in the Fire.” It’s about how to provide leadership to solve problems in today’s very complex environments. He uses this idea that you must guide the system through the solution process. It’s not that the leader will solve the problem, it’s that you balance the system so the problem can be solved.

It’s very helpful for me as the director of a creative team. You cannot force quality. Quality is given as a gift. You cannot ask for it. It’s very much about psychology, balancing personalities and discovering needs.

Photo

Credit
Urbanscreen

LISTENING I’m liking Cinematic Orchestra’s album “Ma Fleur.” It’s a very interesting way to produce. They invite musicians and record, and in the end they remix the recordings. But it doesn’t sound like a remix. It’s quiet, jazzy music, not rock.

And also “Based on a True Story” by Fat Freddy’s Drop. This is a band from New Zealand. It is the most intense reggae I have heard in, like, forever. It blew me away that these guys from New Zealand are able to play reggae.

WATCHING I watched all the debates and some of the speeches of the American election on YouTube. It was very interesting to follow from Europe — to see how Obama and Romney acted, and all the voices, and all that was done. What we do at Urbanscreen is strongly related to theater and all the dramaturgic thinking and so on. When I looked at the campaign, I saw it as drama and tried to analyze what is the aim. It’s not so much what they say as the intention behind that.

FOLLOWING I really like designyoutrust.com. Some posts you don’t get. Why is this related to design? But it’s much more rich than other design blogs with the normal design releases that you can find everywhere. And crackajack.de, or Nerdcore, is run by some crazy guys who pick up random things in the world. Extraordinary craziness. It’s inspiration, but not really related to what I do. They have no specific topic.

BOARDING I just bought myself an Evolve electric skateboard. You use a Bluetooth remote control. And you can’t see or hear that it’s an electric skateboard and you’re going incredibly fast. It’s like you’re surfing through the city. It’s as if everything is water and you just float your way along. I love it.

Kate Murphy is a journalist in Houston who writes frequently for The New York Times.

A version of this op-ed appears in print on November 11, 2012, on Page SR2 of the New York edition with the headline: Thorsten Bauer. Today's Paper|Subscribe